Textile process

ABSTRACT

DIMENSION AND SHAPE STABILIZED WOOL GARMENTS ARE PRODUCED BY APPLYING RESINS OR RESIN-FORMING MATERIALS IN AN ORGANIC SOLVENT TO WOOL FABRIC OR GARMENTS WHICH HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN SET BY STEAM OR WITH THE HELP OF CHEMICAL SETTING AGENTS IN A DESIRED CONFIGURATION, WHICH MAY BE FLAT OR PLEATED. THE EFFECT OF THE COMBINED SETTING AND RESIN TREATMENT IS TO GIVE A PERMANENT SET WHICH IS GREATER THAN THAT POSSIBLE BY EITHER A SETTING OR A RESIN TREATMENT ALONE, AND THE PROCESS AFFORDS A WAY OF ACHIEVING A FINISH ON A WOOL GARMENT WHICH IS MACHINE WASHABLE. THE SETTING TREATMENT CAN BE APPLIED EITHER TO A WOOL FABRIC, WHICH MAY BE OF PURE WOOL OR OF WOOL BLENDED WITH OTHER FIBRES, OR TO A PARTIALLY OR WHOLLY MAKE-UP GARMENT. THE RESIN TREATMENT CAN BE CONVENTIONALLY CARRIED OUT IN DRY CLEANING MACHINERY.

United States Patent /68 Int. Cl. D06m 3/10, 13/00 US. Cl. 8128 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Dimension and shape stabilized wool garments are produced by applying resins or resin-forming materials in an organic solvent to wool fabric or garments which have previously been set by steam or with the help of chemical setting agents in a desired configuration, which may be fiat or pleated. The effect of the combined setting and resin treatment is to give a permanent set which is greater than that possible by either a setting or a resin treatment alone, and the process affords a way of achieving a finish on a wool garment which is machine washable. The setting treatment can be applied either to a wool fabric, which may be of pure Wool or of wool blended with other fibres, or to a partially or wholly make-up garment. The resin treatment can be conveniently carried out in dry cleaning machinery.

This invention relates to a process for the stabilization of wool garments.

In order to stabilize wool garments with a view to making them machine washable, it is necessary to stabilize the garments in respect of their dimensions and their shape. Dimensional stabilization may be satisfactorily achieved by known shrink-resistant processes involving resin treatment of the cloth before making it up into a garment or treatment of the wool as fibre, top or yarn before construction of the cloth.

Shape stabilization of a garment to machine washing, however, is more of a problem. Shape stabilization refers to the retention of garment features which have been set into the cloth either before or after making up the garment and they include creases, pleats, surface smoothness, and freedom from unwanted creases and wrinkles in the normally flat areas in the garment. Creases and pleats are usually formed in the garment during or after the making up process and surface smoothness and freedom from unwanted creases are normally induced by flat setting the cloth before the garment is made up.

The setting of Wool cloth and garments is a well-established process, and it is often referred to as permanent setting. In this process, reducing agents and bases may be used, together with moisture and heat. Steam at or above atmospheric pressure may be used, alone or with the agents mentioned. Setting involves the rearrangement of bonds within the wool fibres, and it is thought, though it is by no means certain, that the thiol/disulphide bond interchange in the fibre structure plays an important role of this process. Setting is facilitated if reagents, e.g. water, reducing agents and bases, which promote thiol/disulphide bond interchange, are present during the setting process. The term setting includes flat setting which is normally performed on the cloth piece, pleating which is normally carried out on partially made up garments, and creasing which is normally carried out on made up garments. Such setting treatments have the disadvantage that, although a degree of shape stabilization is achieved which is stable to wetting, the shape of a garment so treated, or made from a fabric so treated, is not durable to normal washing processes and certainly not to machine washing processes.

It has been proposed in Dutch patent application No. 6703851 to obtain a permanent crease in a garment by treating cloth with a curable resin, making up a garment from the treated cloth and then pressing a crease into the garment before the resin has fully cured. This sequence of steps is difiicult to follow in practice, because curing of the resin takes place under ambient conditions and by the time the garment manufacturer has bought the resin treated cloth, made up the garments and carried out the required setting steps, curing of the resin is so advanced that creases durable to machine washing cannot be satisfactorily obtained.

It has now been found that by applying a resin to wool articles, whether fabric pieces or wholly or partially madeup wool garments, which have already been shape stabilized by one of the setting methods outlined above, a finish of higher durability is achieved, to a degree which is significantly greater than would be expected by the merely additive effect of the two separate processes. As a result, garments whose shape stability under conventional forms of treatment is not durable to even a single machine wash, now become stable to many machine washes as carried out under ordinary domestic conditions.

According to the invention there is provided a process for rendering the shape and dimensions of a wool article stable to agitation in the presence of water which comprises applying to the article, the wool fabric of which has previously been set into a desired configuration, a solution of a resin or resin-forming material in an organic solvent. Not only does the process of the present invention render wool garments machine washable, but resistance to creasing and retention of a non-iron finish are also imparted to the garment.

The process is particularly useful in rendering machine washable garments set with creases and pleats, for example, trousers and pleated skirts. Normally, trousers are creased in the fully made-up form, whereas skirts are pleated in the partially made-up state. In these and in other garments it is convenient to fully make up the garment before treatment with a resin, though it is perfectly feasible and within the scope of the invention to resintreat partially made-up garments. Accordingly the term article as used throughout the specification includes made-up garments as well as garment pieces and partially made-up garments.

The process of the invention improves the smooth drying of wool garments after machine washing. Where a better smooth drying effect is required, the garments are preferably made from cloth which has been previously fiat set. The subsequent resin treatment renders the flatset effect durable to machine washing, and hence the normally flat areas in the garment will be resistant to unwanted creasing and wrinkling. The surface smoothness or lustre imparted by flat-setting is also maintained.

Although the process is particularly useful for creased and pleated garments, it also has many applications in the production of machine washable non-pleated and noncreased garments, for example, straight skirts where the retention of surface smoothness and resistance to creasing is an important requirement. In these circumstances the setting into the desired configuration can be carried out on the cloth by a flat-setting operation before the garment is made up.

The resin in an organic solvent may be applied to the wool article by any convenient means, for example, in dry cleaning apparatus. A garment manufacturer can thus employ the process of the present invention simply by the acquisition of dry cleaning apparatus. With such apparatus it is convenient to immerse the garments in or spray them with a solution of the resin, to remove the excess solution by simple draining or by centrifuging, to tumble the garments to evenly distribute the resin on the cloth and finally to evaporate the solvent by tumble drying.

As explained above, much is to be gained if the cloth from which the garments are made is flat set. It should be stated, however, that fiat setting may not be necessary or even desirable with certain types of cloth. Flat setting is normally carried out either by treating the cloth with steam at superatmospheric pressure, or by treating the cloth with steam at atmospheric pressure in the presence of a setting agent and maintaining the cloth in a flat state. However, flat setting may also be achieved by applying high concentrations of a reducing agent and a swelling agent, and maintaining the cloth in a fiat state after washing off the excess reagents. Flat setting is not normally carried out by the garment manufacturer, but by the cloth finisher.

In producing machine washable wool garments by the process of the present invention, the garment manufacturer will normally purchase flat set cloth, make up garments, and where appropriate, set creases or pleats into the garment during or after the making up process, and finally treat the set garment with a resin in an organic solvent.

When pleating garments such as skirts, the skirt panel is normally pre-sensitised with a reducing agent and sometimes a swelling agent for the wool. The pre-sensitized skirt panel is then moistened with water, pleated between pleating papers and steamed using steam at atmospheric pressure or above. Skirt panels may be pleated by high temperature steam setting alone, omitting the pre-sensitising and moistening steps. The skirt is then fully made up and treated with a resin in an organic solvent.

When creasing garments such as trousers, the trousers are normally fully made up before creasing, and this may be achieved by pre-sensitising the fabric as outlined in the previous paragraph and steam pressing in the desired configuration or, more usually, by spraying the area to be creased with a reducing agent or a base, forming a fold in the desired position and applying steam and pressure to the wet fabric. The trousers or similar garment may then be rendered machine washable by treatment with resin according to the process of the invention.

Examples of setting agents suitable for use in the setting operations of flat-setting, creasing or pleating include; reducing agents, for example, alkali metal sulphites and bisulphites such as sodium sulphite or sodium metabisulphite, sodium or zinc formaldehyde sulphoxylates, alkali metal borohydrides, alkali metal hydrosulphites, thiolcontaining compounds such as thioglycollic acid and its alkali metal and ammonium salts, 2-mercaptoethanol, 2-aminothioethanol, tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride, thiourea dioxide, tris (hydroxymethyl) phosphine and other substituted phosphines and phosphonium compounds, 1,4-dithiothreitol, and sulphites and bisulphites of aliphatic amines and alkanolamines; watersoluble bases such as monoethanolamine and other lower alkanolamines, and other amines such as ethylene diamine and hexamethylene diamine; alkanolamine carbonates and bicarbon'ates; and hydrazine.

The setting agents are preferably applied from aqueous solutions, with typical concentrations in the range of 0.2- 8%.

To secure adequate penetration of the setting agents, wetting agents such as ethylene oxide condensation products or sodium salts of sulphated or sulphonated fatty acids may be used.

For the purpose of setting certain wool articles, dry setting involving the use of steam at superatmospheric pressures may be employed. This method may also be used for flat-setting piece goods.

Humectants or swelling agents such as urea and its derivatives, guanidine and its derivatives, ethylene glycol, glycerol, dimethyl formamide or dimethyl sulphoxide may be used to enhance the amount of set produced, and these. agents are also particularly useful when setting the dry creasing techniques and when pre-sensitising fabrics for subsequent creasing or pleating.

The resin or resin-forming material employed in the process of the present invention should be soluble in an organic solvent and the resin should have a shrink-resist action on wool. An important class of resins which have shrink-resist action are those which, after application to Wool; are cross-linkable or curable to a solid or plastic state. They may be self-cross-linkable as, for, example, in prepolymers containing free isocyanate groups, or they may be cross linked by cross-linking agents, e.g. polyfunctional compounds capable of reacting with the resin and the wool, such as compounds containing thiol, hydroxy, amino, amide, isothiocyanate and isocyanate groups. The cross-linking agents may be other reactive polymers, e.g. epoxide and epichlorhydrin resins. The cross-linking agents may be applied at the same time as or after the application of the resin. In order that the articles treated by the process of the invention may be subsequently drycleaned, it is preferable that the cross-linked or cured resin on the article should be insoluble in an organic solvent.

Examples of suitable resins which may be applied to the garment or garment piece in an organic solvent include: a copolymer of ethylene, vinyl acetate and methacryloyl chloride, for example as sold under the trade name Zeset T (E. I. du Pont de Nemours); a prepolymer containing free isocyanate groups which may be the reaction product of a polyhydroxy compound, an alkylene oxide and a polyfunctional isocyanate, for example as sold under the trade name Synthappret LKF (Bayer); a polyamide/ epoxide resin system, for example as sold under the trade names Polyamide and Epoxy Resin GY 260 (Ciba (ARL)); polyacrylates, a resin formed by the catalytic oxidation of unsaturated fatty acid esters; a polybutadiene containing functional groups, for example a carboxylatcd polybutadiene (as described in Textile Research Journal, vol. 36, pp. 724729, 1966); thiol-containing resins; and a resin system composed of a converted polyisocyanate and a polyfunctional isocyanate, as sold respectively under the trade names Braxan L736 and Braxan L708 (Chemische Fabrik Pfersee G.m.b.H.).

A class of resins which are also suitable are polycondensation resins, for example the polyamides, which are condensates of a diamine component and dicarboxylic acid component. These are normally applied to wool by the interfacial polymerisation technique, and in the circumstances of the present process the diamine component may be applied to the cloth before being made up into a garment and the dicarboxylic acid may be applied as a solution in the organic solvent. In the terms of the process of the present invention, therefore, the dicarboxylic acid component will be the resin-forming material.

The resins are applied from organic solvents, preferably halogenated hydrocarbons, for example, such dry cleaning solvents as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride, 1,1,2 trichloro 1,2,2 trifluorethane, or 1,1,1 trichloroethane. Typical resin concenterations in the organic solvent are in the range 1-l0% by weight. The amount of resin applied to the garment from the solution depends very largely on the nature of the resin but in most cases the weight of resin used based on the weight of the garment will be in the range of 05-20%.

Many other resins which may be suitable for use in the process will be apparent to those skilled in the art, subject in any particular instance to such factors as the degree of setting of creases, the degree of smooth set and the handle required. A secondary quality which may be imparted to the cloth is a firmer handle, which may also be particularly noticeable in the treatment of garments manufactured from fabrics of certain constructions. However, by selecting an appropriate resin the desired handle can usually be achieved. If necessary, a softener may be ap plied to the garment or garment piece at the same time as the resin or subsequent to resin application. Suitable soft= ening agents include: quaternary ammonium compounds containing saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon chains having 8-18 carbon atoms, for example those sold under the trade name Arquad, and lanolin. Polypropylene-oxyglycols may also be used.

The resin on the treated articles may be allowed to cure at ambient temperatures, but it is sometimes preferable to apply gentle heat, for example between 30 and 170 C., in order to speed up the curing process. Catalyst systems for increasing the rate of cure may also be used if desired.

Wool articles are referred to throughout this specification, and although the process of the present invention is particularly suited to all-wool garments, it may also be used for the treatment of garments made from wool blended with synthetic fibres, for example, polyester fibres, polyamide fibres, acrylic fibres, and cellulosic fibres. Accordingly the term .wool article as used throughout this specification includes not only articles made entirely from wool but also articles made from wool blended with synthetic fibres. Further, the term wool as used in this specification covers all forms of keratinous fibres including -wool, hair and fur, such as sheeps wool, alpaca, cashmere, vicuna, guanaco, camel hair, silk and llama.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the following examples. Before the examples, details are given of various test procedures to which the garments treated according to the invention were subjected.

TEST PROCEDURES Standard wash Prior to measurement of surface smoothness and crease retention in garments treated according to the invention, all garment samples were washed for one hour in a rotating drum, Bendix MRE domestic washing machine in a phosphate buffer of pH 7 at 40 C. using a liquor/sample ratio of 22:1 by weight. The samples were removed and hydroextracted in a domestic spin dryer for about one minute. After removal from the spin dryer the samples were sharply shaken three times and then allowed to hang until dry at room temperature. In the case of creased and pleated garments they were allowed to hang vertically during drying.

Felting Any felting of the garment resulting from the standard wash procedure was assessed qualitatively by visual inspection of the samples after the wash.

Smooth drying Surface smoothness of the garment after the standard wash procedure was assessed by comparison with Monsanto three-dimensional plastic wash-n-wear standards. This comprises a series of five graded plastic panels having surface smoothness characteristics varying on a scale between 1 and 5. The test panels are illuminated under oblique overhead lighting conditions. A sample of material for assessement is illuminated under the same conditions, and its surface smoothness assessed by comparison with the test panels. The grade numbered 5 correponds to negligible or no change in the appearance of the sample after washing.

Degree of set The crease retention of the garment after the standard wash procedure is measured on a TBL smooth drying apparatus, as described in the Journal of the Textile Institute, 53, p. 143 (1962). In this equipment, the creased sample is mounted at the centre of rotation of a light source which is in the form of a slit, the plane of rotation being at right angles to the crease, and the slit being parallel to the crease. The light source is rotated until the shadow formed by the crease just disappears, and the angle of incident light under this condition is measured. The fabric is then rotated until the shadow formed at the other side of the crease also just disappears, and the incident angle again measured. The degree of crease set is then calculated as:

Mean incident angle Set percent= X Example 1 A piece of grey worsted flannel was presensitized by immersion in an aqueous solution containing 100 g. monoethanolamine sesquisulphite (MEAS), 100 g. urea and 2 g. non-ionic wetting agent per litre, squeezed to 50% by weight liquid retention on the fabric, dried and made into two pairs of trousers. Creases were pressed in the trousers by means of a Hoifman press using a pressing cycle of 30 seconds, steam, 30 seconds bake with the head locked, and 10 seconds vacuum. Two similar pairs of trousers were made from untreated fabric and pressed under the same conditions. One pair of trousers made from the pre-treated fabric and one made from the untreated fabric were placed in a dry cleaning machine, pre-rinsed for 5 minues in perchlorethylene and extracted to 30% solvent retention on weight of material. After spraying on a solution of Zeset T resin in perchlorethylene to give 1.5% solids retention on the weight of the material, the garments were tumbled for 2 minutes to distribute the resin and then dried for 12 minutes at 80 C. In order to cure the resin, water was injected into the hot air inlet at 40 ml./min. for 12 minutes and the garments tumble dried in the slightly moistened air during this time. The garments were then subjected to a standard wash and the garments were tested yielding the following results:

Example 2 Two pairs of trousers were sprayed with a solution of MEAS to give 5% reagent on the Weight of material, pressed wet using a pressing cycle of 30 seconds steam, 30 seconds bake and 10 seconds vacuum, and then dried. Two similar pairs of trousers were treated in the same way except that water was used as the setting agent. One pair of the trousers pressed with MEAS and one pair pressed with water were treated with Zeset T resin in a dry cleaning machine by the method described in Example 1. After a standard wash the trousers were tested and yielded the following results:

Sugpth Set, r ng per Setting agent Resin index cent Felting 5 98 None. 4-5 74 D0. 2-3 19 Severe. 1-2 10 D0.

Example 3 Pleats were formed in wool fabric panels made from flat-set cloth intended for the manufacture of pleated skirts, and the pleated panels were then treated in an autoclave for 10 minutes with steam at a pressure of 20 lb./sq. in., using a double vacuum cycle to ensure adequate steam penetration. Material for the skirt, waist band, Without pleating, was treated in a similar manner. The pleated panels and Waist bands were then assembled into complete skirts which were treated in a dry cleaning machine with a solution of 5% Synthappret LKF prepolymer in perchlorethylene, the skirts being tumbled in the solution for 5 minutes. The skirts were then spun to remove excess solvent and give a liquid retention of 30%, equivalent to 1.5% of the resin on the weight of material. The skirts were then tumble dried. After washing and drying as described above, the skirts were examined for sharpness of the pleats and smooth drying of the garments.

The retention of the creases and the flat-setting characteristics were noticeably better on a visual assessment, than in any skirts treated only by setting agents, by high temperature steam of by resin treatment separately.

Example 4 W001 fabrics panels intended for the manufacture of pleated skirts were first pleated in a direction parallel to the warp and the pleats set by treating in an autoclave for 20 minutes at a steam guage pressure of 20 lb./ sq. in. The panels were then made up in the form of skirts and treated in a dry cleaning machine with a perchlorethylene solution containing 1.5% by weight of a resin mixture composed of 0.75% polyamide (Polyamide 115, from Ciba (ARL)) and 0.75% epoxy resin (GY 260, from Ciba (ARL)). The skirts were then washed, spun dried and then hang dried as before. The test results were as follows:

Set, percent 87 Smooth drying index 4-5 Example A pair of trousers was sprayed with a 2% solution of monoethanolamine, and pressed in a Hoffman press, using the cycle 30 seconds steam, seconds bake and 10 seconds vacuum.

The trousers were then treated in a dry cleaning machine in a solution of Synthappret resin LKF in perchlorethylene and spun to give 1.5% resin on the weight of the fabric. After one weeks curing under atmospheric conditions, the trousers were washed and dried as before, and the crease retention and smooth drying properties then assessed. A crease set of 96% and a smooth drying index of 45 were observed.

Example 6 A pair of trousers were sprayed with a 5% solution of MEAS to 40% pickup and pressed in a Hoffman press using the cycle 20 seconds steam, 20 seconds bake, 10 seconds vacuum. The trousers were then treated in a dry cleaning machine with a solution of a carboxylated polybutadiene and 1% on Weight of resin of hexanediol bis-thioglycollate in perchlorethylene to give 2% weight of resin on the trousers. They were then tumble dried for 10 minutes at 80 C. The trousers were machine washed according to the standard procedure and the trousers were then subjected to various tests, the results of which are given below:

Smooth drying 4-5 Percentage set of crease, percent 100 Shrinkage, percent Warp 0.3 Weft 0.7

W001 flannel cloth was sprayed with a 3% MEAS solution to 50% pick-up, i.e. 1.5% MEAS on the weight of fabric, and steam was passed through the cloth on a semi-decating machine for 3 minutes. The cloth was cooled and dried and a pair of trousers made from the fiat-set cloth. A 5% solution of MEAS was sprayed on the areas of the trousers to be creased to 40% pick up and pressed in a Hoffman press using a cycle 20 seconds steam, 20 seconds bake, and 10 seconds vacuum. The garment was dried and treated with a solution of perchlorethylene of the resin system Braxan L736 and Braxan L708 described respectively as a converted polyisocyanate Smooth drying 5 Percentage set of crease, percent 84 Shrinkage, percent Warp 0.7 Weft 0.4

Example 8 A grey worsted serge fabric was made up into two pairs of trousers. Creases were set into them by spraying with 5% MEAS solution to 40% wet pick-up in the region of the crease, and pressing in a Hoffman press using a cycle 20 seconds steam, 20 seconds bake, 10 seconds vacuum.

One pair of trousers was treated with a solution in perchlorethylene of a resin described as a urethane prepolymer and sold by Ashland Chemical Company under the trade name Arotap B-520 (BF-031215406) to 5% pickup of resin on weight of trousers. After tumble drying at C. the trousers were cured at C. for 15 minutes and then washed according to the standard machine washing procedure.

The other pair of trousers was treated with a solution in percholethylene of a resin described as a high molecular weight polymer with pendant isocyanate groups and sold by Ashland Chemical Company under the designation EP-2935-5 in conjunction with a tin-containing catalyst designated HIP-024301. The trousers were treated with 5% by weight of resin and 0.2% by weight of catalyst. The garment was tumble dried and heat-cured at 130 C. for 15 minutes. The trousers were then washed according to the standard machine washing procedure.

Test results obtained from the machine washed trousers are as follows:

EP2923-5/EP024301. Smooth drying index 4-5 Set, percent 79 Shrinkage, percent Warp 0.7 Weft 0.8 Area 1.5

Example 9 Two samples of a 50/50 wool/ cotton plain weave shirting fabric were first flat set by padding through 3% MEAS solution to give 50% wet pick-up, i.e. 1.5% MEAS on weight of fabric. The samples were semidecated whilst wet, steam being passed for 3 minutes followed by 3 minutes cooling. After drying, creases were inserted in the flat set samples and also in two samples which had not been flat set, by spraying in the region of the crease with 3% MEAS solution to give 40% pick up in this region. The samples were pressed using the cycle 20 seconds steam, 20 seconds bake, 10 seconds vacuum.

After drying, one flat set sample and one sample which had not been flat set were treated with Synthappret LKF to give 2% resin solids on weight of fabric. The other two samples were given no further treatment. The samples were then machine washed and the results of tests applied to the washed and dried samples are given below:

All-wool worsted serge was padded to 60% pick-up through a aqueous solution of hexamethylene diamine and dried. A crease was set in the fabric by spraying with water in the crease region to give 40% pick-up, using the hexamethylene diamine on the fabric as the setting agent.

After being dried, the fabric was treated in a dry cleaning machine with a 2% solution of sebacoyl chloride in perchlorethylene. The sample was immersed in the solution for 1 minute and then hydroextracted to 60% pick up and tumble dried at 80 C.

After washing for 1 hour the following test results were obtained:

Example 11 Comparative tests were carried out comparing the process of the present invention with a process for obtaining permanent creases in garments as disclosed in Netherlands patent application No. 6703851, in which cloth is treated with a curable resin, a garment is made up from the cloth and a crease is then pressed into the garment before the resin has fully cured.

Five samples of wool flannel cloth were creased by padding to 100% using a series of setting agents and pressing on a Hoffman press using the cycle 30 seconds steam, 30 seconds bake, seconds vacuum. The five samples were then treated with Synthappret LKF prepolymer in solution in perchlorethylene in a dry cleaning machine until there was 1.5% weight resin on the cloth.

A further five samples of wool flannel cloth were firstly treated with Synthappret LIQF, as described in the preceding paragraph and then after a period of 7 days had elapsed, this representing the minimum time in which a garment manufacturer is likely to be able to buy the resintreated cloth, make up the garments and set the necessary creases in the garment, creases were set into the resintreated samples employing a series of setting agents.

The ten samples were then machine washed according to the standard procedure and the percentage set measured for each sample.

The results appear in the following table:

Percentage set after machine washing NorE.MEA=monoethanolamine; TEA=triethanolamine; MEAS= monoethanolamlne bisulphite.

The results show that the process of the present invention produces a dramatic improvement in machine washability of wool garments over those treated by the prior art process. The improvement is highlighted still further by applying a crease using MEAS at 3% to yet another cloth sample according to the prior art process 14 days after treatment with the resin, in which case the percentage set after machine creasing was only 18%, which is a five-fold reduction of the percentage set obtained with garments treated by the process of the invention. It should be mentioned that 14 days is probably a more realistic time-lag between resin treatment and creasing than the 7 day period employed in tests to which the above table relates and thus the percentage set results shown for the prior art process are likely to be considerably less in practice.

I claim:

1. A process for rendering the shape and dimensions of a Wool article stable to agitation in the presence of water which comprises the steps of: setting a wool article in a desired configuration by applying a chemical setting agent selected from chemical reducing agents and bases which promote thiol/disulphide bond interchange in the wool and then steam or steam at superatmospheric pressure thereto; and thereafter curing on said article a solution of a resin or resin-forming material having a shrinkresist action on wool in an organic solvent for said resin or resin-forming material.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said setting step comprises forming a crease or pleat in the article and is performed during or after making up into a garment.

3. A process for rendering the shape and dimensions of a wool article stable to agitation in the presence of water which comprises the steps of: forming a crease or pleat in the article, treating the creased or pleated area of said article with a chemical setting agent selected from chemical reducing agents and bases which promote thiol/disulphide bond interchange in the wool and then steam or steam at superatmospheric pressure thereto; and thereafter curing on said article a solution of a resin or resinforming material having a shrink-resist action on wool in an organic solvent for said resin or resin-forming material.

4. A process as claimed in claim 2 wherein said setting step comprises: folding an area of the article into a crease or pleat; and applying steam at superatmospheric pressure to the creased or pleated area.

5. A process as claimed in claim 3 wherein a swelling agent for wool is also applied to the said area of the article.

6.. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the organic solvent is an halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon.

7. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said resin is cured by heating the resin-treated article at a temperature in the range of 30 to C.

8. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said setting step comprises flat-setting a wool fabric piece before it is made up into a garment.

9. A process for rendering the shape and dimensions of a wool garment stable to agitation in the presence of water which comprises the steps of: making up a garment comprising flat-set wool cloth; setting a crease or pleat in the at least partially made-up garment by applying a chemical setting agent selected from chemical reducing agents and bases which promote thiol/disulphide bond interchange in the wool and then steam or steamat superatmospheric pressure thereto; applying to the madeup garment a solution in an organic solvent of a cu able resin having a shrink-resist action on wool; and curing said resin on the treated garment.

12 10. A process as claimed in claim 9 wherein said resin 3,433,576 3/1969 Tesord 8-1275 is cross-linked on curing into a solid or plastic state. 3,477,805 11/ 1969 Gagarine 8--128 References Cited GEORGE F. LESMES, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 H. WOLMAN, Assistant Examiner 3,457,027 7/1969 Bolinger 8-1275 2,261,094 10/1971 Spea-kman 167-87.1 2,739,039 3/1956 Lubs 8-128 8-1275, 127.6; 117-146 

